15 Piece Puzzle of Serenity's Siblings
by goddessa39
Summary: There is Simon and there is River. There is nothing and everything in-between. Then, there is the rest. Pre-canon.


Title: **15 Piece Puzzle of Serenity's Siblings**

Canon: Pre-Firefly/Serenity

Disclaimer: Not mine. Poo. But this fic is.

Pairings: Mostly it is Simon-River (not incest) with mentions of Rayne and canon couples.

Summary: There is Simon and there is River. There is nothing and everything in-between. Then, there is the rest.

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1.

Simon is born crying from the pain of delivery on a clear day, but as soon as he is named he quiets and is given to his mother who breastfeeds him only for as long as he is in the hospital. Then, he is given a nursemaid to care for him in that way. For a baby, he takes to his place better than expected.

He is always quiet, and utterly a genius as he begins to speak as calm as ever just as he reaches his first birthday. However, he has no clear likes or dislikes and is almost an automaton in that way. His mother loves him, as much as Regan loves anything. His father loves him, but Gabriel does not know what it is to love. Simon loves nothing.

And then River is born.

2.

River is born on a day of hail and rain, when the sky seems to be falling and the gutters beneath their world run quickly with the tears of the sky. She loves the wet, splashing in it or washing in it. She is welcomed into the world with the doctors' coos and though she does not cry like a hellion, her quiet murmuring of uncomfortable life makes her the center of attention for only a moment.

She has no name, but as her father fills out paperwork and her mother enjoys the drugged sleep of after-birth, her big brother takes her quickly and holds her, staring down. There is meaning there. In search of her name, he opens a window and the cool air that streams in with colder drops of wet sprinkle the two of them. He smiles guiltily and she giggles like new music.

3.

When taken home, the little girl is given to a nursemaid of her own and the nanny who was once Simon's own tries to pull him away to school work and games he feels nothing for, not yet.

She fails, and spends more time with his little sister who is so small for more time than either of the nannies and their parents put together.

4.

Simon means "he who has heard." It was also the name of the man who carried the cross for Christ the savior as he walked to his death. It is also a genius little girl's first sound on her lips.

5.

River means "born from the river." It is an asexual denominations and Simon thinks that is appropriate because she is not female but an annoying thing he frowns at in public for being spirited but hides after her latest escapades and plays with as she wills it.

6.

River is in constant movement, an excited little monkey who wants to try "this" and "this" and "Hey Simone! What about this?" Learning to dance is both the next step to her movement and calming. When she does it her mind can go blank and almost peaceful, concentrating on the next step, and the next, and the seat Simon occupies in order to watch her. A ballerina, she thinks, like those in music boxes-always there to look at but iron enough not to know what they are thinking.

7.

Away from River, Simon does not know how to be himself. He stutters and frowns, forgets words and is not sure if he is meant to take another step. Falling into the schedules of a doctor early on is easy and the work is interesting. It is, as always, his sister who inspires him. She falls down once when they are playing by the stream they should not be near and skins her knee. As is his duty, Simon cleans it of blood and dust. Then he kisses it. The mark fades to nothing but a tiny line of a scar and everything is alright again.

But, he thinks, if something worse happens, he should be there to deal with it. He takes all the classes he is allowed and more thanks to hacking skills of both himself and his little demonic sister with funny grins.

8.

They do not talk about it, or ever allude to it, but sometimes, River knows things she shouldn't. That father sees Companions on Thursdays and mother has affairs with almost every pool boy that attends them is not something odd for most of a high caste clans-the Tams are a family but their parents are only together for the eyes of their children. No, that is not very strange.

But she knows their father will die of a heart attack when she is 38 years old, that their nannies both dislike them for being of 'higher' caste on principal and forty six account numbers of random rich people across Osiris.

9.

It is Gabriel that is given an invoice about The Academy, a highly secret place of learning for geniuses. He thinks it is a good idea, that his daughter will fill her brain high to the brim. It is Regan that mentions it, tells her daughter that she should go for it. What she doesn't mention is the closeness between the siblings bothers her. Simon should have his own life, not be stuck to his sister's own. But she doesn't understand that they share a life.

Despite their abilities to control most of their destiny, their parents are still in charge.

River goes, with a bad feeling in her gut. She kisses her brother on both cheeks at the edges of the docking bay. "I shouldn't go, I have a bad feeling," she murmurs.

"Then don't," he murmurs back so their parents cannot hear.

She whimpers as he hugs her harder, as if to keep her there and not let her go. She doesn't mind. "If I don't, then something worse will happen." River doesn't know what it is but she still knows it. They part quickly before they can fully regret it, she nods goodbye to Gabriel and Regan without touching them.

Her bags have been preloaded. Goodbye, she thinks to her brother as she runs down the path.

Behind her, he does the same, almost thinking he can hear her back.

10.

Letters appear twice a week. She tells her brother that they -as in her and the other applicants- are all very smart and geniuses. There is more math than anything in the beginning and it is enough to excite her.

He is smart and takes more work then usual, keeping each of her pages in easy reach. Simon cashes most of his paychecks and keeps the bills and anonymous checks in easy reach. He doesn't know why, but if asked by someone that he trusted (which is ironic because he only trusts River and she doesn't need to ask) he would tell them he did it because his sister asked him to. Maybe she did.

The Academy authority may have looked into the background of everyone around the genius children, weighed each pro and con, gotten a practical idea of each student and their cousins, but they did not know as much as they thought.

He feels lonely. The messages are bare, and only a page. He writes a basic catalogue of what he does to match it. Inside, Simon shivers. He knows something is wrong.

11.

If someone has to choose between giving up a comfortable life with a perfectly ideal hand of cards spread in front of them verses giving it all up to save only one person, they will choose the first, because that is both easier and saner. What is the likelihood that the one saved will last at all?

But not for Simon.

_They are hurting us. Get me out._

He puts all the clues together, reads it, tries to talk his parents into being worried knowing it will fail, and faces the consequences. Without a thought, he makes his plans all in his head and communicates with untraceable ghosts. Eventually, he will go to work and save three people. But when he checks out from his shift for the day, the Tam prodigy still on Osiris will pocket a small fortune, his most essentials and disappears.

12.

If she had not told him with what sanity she still had, he would look for her anyway. The likelihood that he would find her is debatable, but either way he would be dead before she got out. In her mind that is being programmed and invaded, Subject Tam, R. tells herself it is better that she tell or it will cause problems for their lives.

If she could, River knows that she would save the others who came in after her-though few have any sanity left-but with every calculation she can come up with when added to her big brother's, it would mean only death.

So she chooses not her life, but Simon's, because that was what she was meant to do. River just has to calculate her own self into it because without her Simon does not know how to without her.

13.

One day a well-dressed man walks into the bowels of Serenity, a Firefly class ship run by members of the Alliance's once enemy, a bunch of browncoats, and the only fear Simon has is what has been running through him since his sister hurried down a path to learning that brought her to pain and insanity. Then the damn browncoats turn everything on its head, wake his sister before she should be, and nearly get caught. But Ken dies and everything is not alright, but Simon feels the eyes of River almost smile and reach him again.

It takes a while but they are all some kind of messed up family made of death and madness and illegal acts like smuggling and just plain killing for their lives. He doesn't like it but loves his Mei-mei more so maybe it isn't so bad.

Then the hull, the Oaty-bar commercial, trigger words and a planet called "Miranda" coming back on the radar filled to the brim with dead bodies of horror stories and the Reavers that bring fear and death.

To Simon, it is a steadying thing, making him feel more like the crew. For River, it is like throwing up-it gives her a bad taste, makes her lose some of her food, but afterwards, everything just feels so much better.

14.

Kaylee is like sunshine and she doesn't mind that he isn't the most street wise person in the black. He can hurt for her and be a-okay when she does the forcing, and takes him to bed. He can be himself and not just a core boy following the way of the cards.

Jayne is not the smartest but he is hard where he should be and steadying, a rock to anchor her to where Simon can reach her. He is also experienced and can hold her down when she goes into a fit.

And one day there are smart little geniuses with guns and metal, with brains and brawn walking around the ship, those who fly and muscle, those who are beautiful and handsome, those who are part of Serenity by birth. It is okay.

15.

When they are older, they still fly in the black because no worldly body can still their hearts. Jayne dies first, and Kaylee a few months later. Simon falls a year down the road and River dies with him. They loved and they laughed and they learned to live. But River and Simon were always together.

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**END. **

I don't know where this came from. I was just reading "Chaos Comes Clear to Form a Life" from _adahleid_a and I felt that I had to. I just wrote the whole thing in like an hour, give-or-take.


End file.
